Friends and family of Cromer teenager Nyall ‘Smiley’ Brown to raise money for Mind in his memory

A coastal community remains devastated at the loss of a popular teenager. Nyall ‘Smiley’ Brown, 19, died in May after a battle with mental illness. Now, his family and friends want something positive to come from their grief. JESSICA FRANK-KEYES reports...

Now Nyall’s brother Kharn, 20, has spoken out to encourage other’s in his brother’s position to seek help.

He said: “Seeing him get ill was the hardest bit. If you tried to help him, it would just drive him away.

“He just wanted to get on and get through it on his own.

“He’d just try and help everyone but it just got to the point where he didn’t know how to ask for help himself.

Ash and Kharn at The Grove. Photo: Jessica Frank-Keyes

“When you get someone like Nyall, who was always the joy of the place, making people laugh, a nicer boy you’d never meet.

“He was the last person you’d expect to go through it.”

Mr Brown encouraged others who are struggling to speak to those around them, and said: “You want people who are feeling the way he was to be able to speak their mind so it doesn’t lead to what happened to him.

“The amount of messages I got in the days after, saying they couldn’t believe it - too many to count.”